Apparatus for transporting molten materials



April 26, 1938. s. w. RANDOLPH APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING MOLTEN MATERIALS V Filed July 1, 193

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Patented Apr. 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT orrles APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING MOL'IEN MATERIALS Application July 1, 1936, Serial No. 88,476

Claims. (01. 105 2v0) This invention relates to apparatus for the transportation of molten materials, and more particularly to vehicles for transporting molten iron and steel, known as hot metal cars.

5 Apparatus of this type is well-known and has heretofore been used in and around steel mills for transporting molten iron and steel from the furnaces to more or less distant points at which the molten metal is to be cast or otherwise used.

1G: One type of vehicle so employed comprises a container for the molten metal supported by means of trunnions, at either end, in bearings mounted on railway trucks. In such vehicles the containers are tiltable for the purpose of discharging ll: their contents, tilting being efiected by external means, such as a crane operated hook, or by means carried on the vehicle, such as an electric motor mounted on one of the trucks and connected, through suitable gearing, to the container.

The present invention relates to vehicles of the latter type, and has for an object the provision of a suitable driving connection between the electric motor or other source of power and the container, such means being employed that the container may be tilted even though it be out of alignment with the power shaft, due to inequalities in the track, sagging of thecontainer, permanent misalignment of the parts, or for any 301 other reason. A further object is the provision of a driving connection for the described purpose, which will not be injured by misalignment of the shaft and the container, occurring by reason of the vehicle passing around curves or over inequalities in the track, or through other causes.

These and other objects, features and advan-- tages will appear from the description which follows, together with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one end of a vehicle of the type to which the present invention is adapted;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the vehicle of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical section through the container supporting bearing and driving connection, on line 33 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line 55 of Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 1, a container It, provided with a suitable charging and discharging opening II, is provided at one end with a trunnion I2 which is supported in a bearing I3, the latter being carried by a suitable pedestal l4 mounted on a' railway truck E5. The trunnion l2 and bearing l3 are formed with spherical bearing surfaces, separated by a bushing it of anti-friction metal (Fig. 3). It will be understood that the opposite end of the container is tiltably supported, in a similar manner, upon another truck, which it is unnecessary to illustrate. It will also be appreciated that, if desired, the parts might be reversed, the container being provided with bearings adapted to receive trunnions mounted on the railway trucks.

For the purpose of tilting the container ID to discharge its contents a suitable source of power, such as a reversible electric motor I1, is provided. The motor I! is connected by suitable reduction gearing, indicated in Fig. 1, to a shaft l8, through Which rotary motion is transmitted to the container ill by means now to be described. The shaft i8 is journalled in bearings 21 and 23, carried by the gear casing 29, and is permitted sub- 8 stantially no end play.

As Will be best seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the trunnion I2 is provided with a recess l9, rectangular in cross-section, the upper and lower surfaces of which are provided with liners Z0 and 2| of antifriction metal.* A hollow block 22,- rectangular in cross-section, is mounted'within'the recess I9, fitting snugly between the anti-friction liners and Eli. It will be perceived that the transverse dimension of the block 22 is considerably less than that of the recess l9, thus permitting the block '22 a certain amount of horizontal planar movement, both linear and angular, within the recess l9. It will be understood that the term planar movement refers to linear or angular movement in which each element of the moving member moves in a single plane, all of such planes being parallel.

The end of the shaft l8, modified to a rectangular cross-section, extends into, and preferably entirely through, the central aperture in the block 22, fitting snugly between the vertical walls 23 and 24 thereof. The shaft l8 and block 22 are secured together by means of pins 25, 25 which are threaded into the walls 23 and 24 of the block 22, and extend inwardly into engagement with vertically elongated slots 26, 26' formed in the vertical surfaces of the shaft 18. The latter having a vertical dimension somewhat less than that of the central aperture of the block 22, is permitted a certain amount of vertical planar movement, both linear and angular, within the block.

A lubricant chamber 35! is provided between the gear casing 29 and the bearing l3, and communicates with the recess H3. The chamber 30 is adapted to be supplied with a suitable quantity of lubricant, and to act as a reservoir supplying lubricant to the bearings l3 and 28, and to the members within the recess I9. I

Since the block 22 is secured to the shaft l8, which latter is supported without substantial end play, there will be no substantial longitudinal movement of the block 22 and shaft ,l8 with respect to the trunnion l2. However, since the block 22 is permitted a limited transverse movement within the recess l9, and the shaft l8 may have a limited vertical movement within the block 22, it is apparent that the driving connection thus formed between the shaft I8 and the trunnion 12 will beoperative despite such misalignment of the shaft and container as is likely to occur in service, and will not be injured by such misalignment.

Due to the inherently rugged nature of the elements making up the drivingconnection of the present invention, it is particularly well adapted to transmit the considerable torque necessary for tilting the heavy container filled with molten metal, and to withstand injury.

The terms and expressions employed in the foregoing specification are terms of description and not of limitation, and it is recognized that block 22 and shaft 18 need not-be rectangular,

so long as the outer'surfaces of the block 22 are complementary to the inner surfaces of recess I9 and the inner surfaces of block 22 are complementary to the adjacent surfaces of theshaft l8, and so long as each member has two opposite planar surfaces for engagement with similar surfaces of the adjacent member or'members. It is, of course, essential that the play of the block 22 within the recess l9 and the play of the shaft I8 within the block 22, be in relatively perpendicular planes.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: g

' 1. In a hot metal car, in combination, a pair I of wheeled trucks, bearings carried by said trucks,

a container trunnioned in said bearings, one of said trunnions having a centralrecess, a hollow member mounted within saidrecess for rotational and translational planar movement therein, a shaft extending into said hollow member and adapted for rotational and translational movement therein in a plane perpendicular to the plane of movement of said hollow member, said trunnion, hollow member and shaft being incapable of substantialrelative rotation about the axis of said shaft, and means for rotating said shaft.

2. In a hot metal car, in combination, a pair of wheeled trucks, bearings carried by said trucks,

a container trunnioned in said bearings, one of said trunnions having a central recess, a hollow member mounted within said recess for rotational of wheeled trucks, bearings carried by said trucks,

a container trunnioned in said bearings, one of said trunnions having a central rectangular recess, a hollow rectangular member mounted within said recess for rotational and translational planar movement therein, a shaft having a portion of rectangular cross-section, said rectangular portion extending into said hollow member and adapted for rotationaland translational movement therein in a plane perpendicular to the plane of movement of said hollow member,- said trunnion, hollow member and shaft being inca'- pable of substantial relative rotation about the axis of said shaft, and means for rotating said shaft.

4. In a hot metal car, in combinatioma pair of wheeled trucks, bearings carried by said trucks, a container trunnioned in said bearings, one of said trunnions having a central r ecess,a hollow member mounted within said recess forrotational and translational planar movement therein, a shaft extending into said 'hollow 'memberand secured thereto for rotationaland translational movement therein in a plane perpendiculartothe mounted within said recess for rotational and translational planar movement therein, a shaft having a portion of rectangular cross-section, said rectangular portion extending into said hollow member and secured'thereto for rotational and translational movement therein in a plane perpendicular to the plane of movement of said hollow member, said trunnion/hollow member and shaft being incapable of substantial relative rotation about the axis of said shaft, and means for rotating said shaft" S. W. RANDOLPH. 

